词语掌故：小道消息(2/2)

英语自学网

概述：词语“小道消息”的来由。
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American Civil War
在1’22”处有一连字符~
校对：OFELIA1030
翻译&注解：StepHanie_Lu  
组长：lahmmsc
答疑：kiwiangle
发音点评：Eva酱
本期材料发音模仿地址：http://bulo.hujiang.com/menu/11885/item/740738/Quickly, companies began to build telegraph lines from one place to another. Men everywhere seemed to be putting up poles with strings of wire for carrying telegraphic messages. The workmanship was poor. And the wires were not put up straight.
Some of the results looked strange. People said they looked like a grapevine. A large number of the telegraph lines were going in all directions, as crooked as the vines that grapes grow on. So was born the expression, by the grapevine.
Some writers believe that the phrase would soon have disappeared were it not for the American Civil War.
Soon after the war began in 1861, military commanders started to send battlefield reports by telegraph. People began hearing the phrase by the grapevine to describe false as well as true reports from the battlefield. It was like a game. Was it true? Who says so?
Now, as in those far-off Civil War days, getting information by the grapevine remains something of a game. A friend brings you a bit of strange news. "No," you say, "it just can't be true! Who told you?" Comes the answer, "I got it by the grapevine."
You really cannot know how much, if any, of the information that comes to you by the grapevine is true or false. Still, in the words of an old American saying, the person who keeps pulling the grapevine shakes down at least a few grapes.很快的，各个公司开始在各地铺设电报线路。各地的人都在撑起电线杆以传递电报信息。由于当时的施工技术比较差，电报线路并没有被拉直。
其中有些线路看起来很奇怪，人们说这些线路看起来像葡萄藤。因为很多电报线向四面八方延伸，就像生长葡萄的藤蔓一样弯弯曲曲，很快便诞生了“by the grapevine”这种说法。
一些作家认为，如果不是因为美国南北战争的话，这个习语可能很快就会消失。
在1861年南北战争开始之后，军队指挥官开始使用电报传递战地情况。人们也开始使用“by the grapevine（通过小道消息）”这句话来形容战场上传来的或真或假的消息。这就像一场游戏。这是真的吗？这是谁说的？
如今，在南北战争早已远去的今天，通过小道消息得到信息仍然具有一定的游戏性质。你的一位朋友告诉你了一点奇怪的消息，你对他说：“不，这不可能是真的！谁告诉你的？”他会回答：“这是我听说的小道消息。”
你完全无法知道你得到的小道消息（如果有的话）有多少是真，多少是假。但是，正如同一句古老的美国谚语说的那样，一直在摇晃葡萄藤的人至少能摇下几个葡萄。